(The petition’s 79 grounds begin on page 14. Click on a highlighted ground or exhibit to go to that ground or exhibit.)

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18-year-old Kirstin Blaise Lobato was at her parents’ house in Panaca, Nevada, 170 miles north of Las Vegas, the entire day of July 8, 2001. On July 8 a homeless man was murdered in Las Vegas. Ms. Lobato had never met the man, nor had she ever been to the Las Vegas bank where he was murdered.

First-degree murder charges were filed against Ms. Lobato without any evidence connecting her to the victim or the crime scene. After her first-degree murder conviction in May 2002 was overturned based on errors by the trial judge, she was retried and convicted in October 2006 of voluntary manslaughter and other charges related to the man’s death. She was sentenced to a maximum of 35 years in prison.

How could she be convicted when the prosecution is required to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? This book explains that in the U.S. today the prosecution’s speculation it is “possible” a person committed a crime is enough for that person to be found guilty and imprisoned for decades.